"So that's the choice you have right now," Hiro said, leaning back in his chair. "Either I escort you to Impel Down myself, or you stay here under my 'supervision.'" The unspoken threat was as clear as day to her.
Nami clenched her jaw, frustration flashing in her eyes. He'd made his promises before, but now he seemed to keep adding conditions, binding her tighter in his web. But the thought of solitary confinement – or worse, Impel Down – kept her temper at bay.
"And if you'd prefer, I'm more than willing to send you to a nice cell right now," Hiro added, casually pressing her to make a decision.
Although it was complete bullshit, to someone illiterate in laws of this world like Nami, Hiro's words contained absolute authority as she didn't know anything better herself.
Nami hesitated, weighing her options. She didn't fully trust him; the night they'd spent together wasn't enough to earn her loyalty. But she also didn't want to risk solitary confinement or end up trapped in Impel Down's nightmare cells.
She looked up, startled, her resolve faltering as her sister's safety came to mind. Finally, she sighed, defeated. "Fine. But you better keep your word, or you'll regret it."
Hiro only smirked, unfazed by her attempt at intimidation. "Good. Now, let's get you ready. My schedule's busy, so keep up." He locked the specialized cuffs onto her wrists, ignoring her scowl.
"Tch… Couldn't you at least be gentle about it?" she muttered, begrudgingly following him out.
She knew that as long as she was on the Conomi Islands, running away would simply be impossible (highly improbable), and she didn't want to risk that chance.
And although she wanted to believe what Hiro said, especially about defeating Arlong, her deep rooted fear of fishmen still came on top.
It would be better for her to gain his trust by doing what he says and then look for the perfect opportunity to run away
That way, the risk would be much lower.
Even though Nami knew that she might have to spend her nights with Hiro, she had made her mind.
It was a cruel world where lives mattered less than money, Dignity would be one less thing she would have to care about.
As such, she just followed Hiro despite her unwillingness as she just lazed around the Marine base.
The days that followed took on a rhythm that almost numbed Nami.
By day, she was a silent observer to Hiro's duties, a shadow that watched his every move as he trained and carried out his work at the Marine base.
By night, she returned to his room, bound to him in a twisted exchange of submission and survival. It grated on her, but at the same time, it granted her a strange sense of security she hadn't known in years.
And it wasn't like she was repulsed by it, the pleasure of having sex and the relief of orgasm afterwards relieved her of her worries and mental tension that had built up over years.
For the first time in years, she could sleep peacefully without having any nightmares, her mind exhausted by the day's events and her body exhausted by the night's activities.
Days blurred into weeks, and weeks into months, until almost three had passed since Hiro's arrival in the East Blue.
Over this time, he'd changed profoundly. His attributes had spiked, and his physical prowess had surged beyond what he'd thought possible.
[STATUS]
Name: Hiro Nakamura
Health: 91%
Attributes:
Strength: 9 → 29
Agility: 8 → 29
Endurance: 7 → 30
Durability: 9 → 28
Perception: 5 → 22
Regeneration: 6 → 23
Most of his major stats were now in upper twenties while his endurance had broken through the barrier that was 30.
Something Hiro had noticed in his three months of intense training was that every 10 levels in in stats, there was some kind of barrier that Hiro had to overcome which took much longer than increasing his stats when they were somewhere in between.
This was also the reason why his Strength and Agility were at 29, he had hit that barrier which slowed him down.
Hiro expected that in about ten days to a couple weeks, he'll be able to overcome this small barrier and then continue on in his training.
But the area where he flourished wasn't his stats, it was the six techniques.
Although he was nowhere near to be called a master in them, he had made a small achievement in all of them and had taken them all to the minor stage of mastery.
His Flash steps were at a level where he could gain a lot of momentum instantly while running in a straight line.
His Steel body was at a stage where that if he tensed his muscles, ordinary attacks wouldn't even phase him.
Such was the case for each of the remaining techniques, all of them reached the minor completion stage.
Plus, along with the increase in his Strength, his reflexes and perception also increased too, his vision had become much more smoother and clearer while he was now able to pick up even the smallest of details from objects.
Not to mention his recovery had improved by miles, he could now regain almost half his stamina back in just couple of hours of completely exerting himself.
Which at first may not seem that big, but when it was paired with his immaculate training method, he could train almost four times more in the same amount of time right now.
This made his training efficiency increase even more, due to the combined effect of which, Hiro now trained more than 12 Hours a day.
When compared to someone that trained 4 hours a day (which was what most people did), Hiro trained 3 times more than them.
Meaning that his two and a half months of his intense training were equal to more than 8 months of normal training, almost a year of training for some.
And as such, over the course of last couple weeks, Hiro had been itching to get a good fight with someone to test his strength before finally confronting Arlong.
Although Hiro was confident in killing Arlong even now, He felt that once his major Stats go beyond 30, he will be able to crush Arlong and his fishmen pretty easily.
Therefore, he now wanted to get a gauge of how strong he actually was currently when in a real combat situation.
And to do this, Hiro commandeered Nezumi's ship, a sturdy frigate with enough firepower and maneuverability to chase down the region's most wanted.
With a crew of sixty ready to follow his every order, Hiro prepared to set sail, eager to push his skills to the limit.
That night, as he slept in the captain's quarters, a faint murmur woke him. Voices echoed from the deck, tense and urgent. He rubbed his eyes, muttering as he threw on his coat and stormed out of his quarters.
"What's going on, lads? It's barely dawn. Care to explain why you're making a racket?"
".... Sir....we...." The young recruit said as he continued with his report.
More Hiro listened to it, more his anger boiled up as he cursed his own carelessness.
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